Blood or Water
by Hayashida-M
Summary: Hayashida Mayumi transfers to Iwatobi and is greeted by a certain Tachibana Makoto. Can Mayumi, practically a nomad when it comes to transferring schools, forge relationships here that are thicker than blood? MakotoxOC but all other main characters present as well.
1. Chapter 1

The beginning of a new school year – students shuffled into their newly assigned classrooms, some overjoyed to be surrounded by most (if not all) of their closest friends, others begrudgingly taking a seat while lamenting being separated from every single one of their friends by just one or two walls. Hayashida Mayumi seemed to be of the latter category as she took a seat in the corner of the room closest to the door without so much as even glancing around for a familiar face.

This was nothing new for the girl, as she had already transferred schools more times than she could count on one hand. She was grateful that, this time, she had at least transferred at the beginning of a school year instead of in the middle of a semester. That meant she was able to skip the seemingly mandatory self-introduction that is expected of all mid-semester transfer students; instead, she could simply sit in the back of the classroom, going unnoticed from day one, until she would inevitably move at least once, if not twice more before finishing high school.

Some minutes later, Mayumi heard the front door slide closed, and her eyes slowly looked up to see a small-framed woman now standing at the podium at the front of the classroom. She introduced herself as Amakata, both their homeroom teacher and literature teacher, and then began taking attendance. Mayumi returned her stare to her desk, hoping that not too much attention would be drawn to her when her name was reached. Her daze was interrupted when she heard a light laughter from all around her, causing her to wonder if the teacher had just called her name. Thankfully, just before she was about to pop out of her seat in order to announce that Hayashida Mayumi was, in fact, present, she heard Amakata curtly apologize in another student's direction. The teacher then started scrawling in her attendance book, reading her note aloud while doing so, that one of the students was a boy. Shortly afterwards, Mayumi's name was called, the girl now paying attention as to avoid the situation she had just previously imagined, and she was able to confirm her presence without any odd stares or laughter.

* * *

Lunchtime arrived, and Mayumi carefully moved her textbooks and notebooks from on top of her desk to inside of her bag. After doing so, she then removed her lunch box from the same bag, setting it down in the same place where her books had just been. She scooted in her chair a bit to make way for her classmates exiting the room through the door directly behind her seat. This, she supposed, was the bad part about her usual seat choice. Although she could be the first to leave as soon as the school day was over, she was also subjected to being in everyone's line of vision as they entered and exited the classroom in the morning and at lunch. Lightly sighing as a passing student collided with the leg of her chair despite it being pushed in as far as she could possibly manage, she opened her lunchbox and picked up the utensils stored inside of it. When she glanced upward to begin eating her lunch, she was slightly startled to see someone standing in front of her desk. Mayumi racked her brain, trying to figure out what in the world someone could want from her already. She quickly gave up, however, and returned her utensils to her lunch box before she had even had a single bite.

"Umm…" she began in a polite, yet obviously confused, tone, moving her eyes even farther up to meet the tall boy's eyes.

"Ah, hello," the boy returned, smiling even more than he was before she had addressed him. "I'm Tachibana Makoto. And you were… Hayashida Mayumi, right?"

"Well, yes, I am…" Mayumi stated, admittedly surprised that someone had remembered her name after only hearing it in this morning's attendance.

Makoto, becoming aware of the girl's bewildered state, explained himself further, "I truly apologize if I'm wrong, but, are you new to this school by any chance?"

"H-How did you know? Did I do something wrong…?"

"Ah, no, that's not it!" Makoto waved his hands in front of him in denial. "I've lived in this town my whole life, so I more or less recognize all of the students in my grade… but you didn't look familiar."

"Oh, I see. Well, I just moved here recently, so it's as you say – I'm new here. To the school and to the town."

"Then, if you don't have anyone else to eat lunch with, do you mind if I join you?"

"Ah, don't worry about it," she asserted, not wanting to burden her kind classmate out of obligation. "I'm sure your friends are waiting for you."

"That's the thing," the boy started while laughing awkwardly, "my friend didn't come to school today, so I'm all alone too."

"Oh… Then I guess it's fine…" she relented, unsure of how to further dissuade the boy without coming off as rude.

Before Mayumi had even finished her sentence, Makoto was already moving the desk and chair in front of hers to accompany her for the remainder of the lunch period. He opened up his lunchbox, Mayumi noticing that it seemed to have been diligently and carefully prepared for him. She picked up her own utensils again and finally took part in her rather plain (even without being compared to Makoto's) meal.

Once she took her first bite, Makoto was the first to break the silence. "So, why did you move here anyway? I'm sure it doesn't seem like a very interesting town to others…"

"My–" she paused abruptly and decided to swallow her first bite before continuing. "My parents moved here for their work."

"I see. If you need help with anything, feel free to ask me!"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to bother you. I'm sure I could figure whatever it is out by myself eventually anyway."

"No, really, I don't mind! I'm sure you could figure it out too, but it would probably be faster to just ask, right?"

Mayumi thought his last sentence seemed more like a statement rather than a question, with a rhetorical question courteously tacked onto the end as an afterthought. Despite the boy's seemingly obtrusive offer, she was once again compelled by his altruistic smile.

"All right, I'll keep it in mind," she submitted, feeling unable to keep up with his positive demeanor. "Thanks."

The two proceeded with their lunches for a while, chatting idly, most of the subject changes initiated by Makoto.

"Do you have any family besides your parents?"

"Just an older brother, but he lives on his own."

"I have two younger siblings, twins actually, one of each gender. Their names are Ren and Ran."

"Younger twins… Sounds like a handful to deal with…"

"Does it? I never really thought of them like that. I help both of my parents with taking care of them, so it's not too much divided amongst all three of us."

"That's good…" Something negative lingered in her reply, but it was promptly obscured when the chime signaling the end of lunch resonated through the whole building. "Thank you for joining me for lunch!"

The boy returned the chair and desk he had borrowed to their rightful positions and collected his belongings. "Oh, it was nothing." He rubbed the back of his head slowly, somewhat embarrassed by the girl's blatant gratitude. "See you later."

The girl only nodded, putting away her lunchbox and retrieving the next class' textbook and notebook. Noticing that Makoto had returned to his seat, she released an exasperated sigh and rested her head on the desk's surface temporarily, arms outstretched in defeat.

"_I'm not even good at talking with people…"_ she thought. _"And to have that happen on the very first day…"_

* * *

A/N: Thanks for making it through the introduction! I haven't written a fanfic in five years now, so I hope it came out OK.

I have not included a physical description for Mayumi as I don't really have a concrete idea in my head of what she should look like... I'd rather her physical descriptions not take too much precedence anyway. Feel free to imagine her however you like (and maybe let me know how you imagine her - I'd find it interesting).


	2. Chapter 2

At the end of the first day of school, Makoto gathered his school books back into his bag and then scanned the room for Mayumi. He discovered that her seat was vacant, and she was also nowhere to be found in the rest of the room. The boy had planned on inquiring whether or not she was familiar with her route home, but it appeared as if she was. Either that or, as she had said at lunch, she would figure it out on her own.

Although Iwatobi was far off from ever being considered a sprawling city, its layout was still quite intricate, with many of the thin roads spiraling uphill and branching off multiple times. Makoto sighed, purely out of concern rather than frustration, and departed from their classroom.

* * *

Arriving just seconds before her teacher, Mayumi quickly sat down at her corner seat, unpacking her notebook and pouch full of writing utensils immediately. Makoto glanced at her briefly, alerted to her presence when she had arrived behind a classroom full of already seated students. Vaguely feeling as if someone was watching her, Mayumi's eyes surveyed the classroom as Amakata called roll. Her eyes finally landed on Makoto, to whom she offered a faint smile while nodding. He returned the gesture much more genuinely, but their silent greeting was interrupted when the boy seated beside Makoto uttered something quietly to him, his face unchanging in expression throughout the two boys' exchange. Mayumi untwisted her head to face the front of the room, but her focus shifted to her desk shortly afterwards.

"_I guess his friend's here today,"_ she grumbled internally, unsure of why she was experiencing such a negative reaction. _"Might as well get used to eating alone anyway."_

A familiar soft laughter traveled through the classroom, Mayumi preparing for the worst once again, already accustomed to the often embarrassing results of her limited attention span. Instead, she detected movement in her peripheral vision, her head following her eyes to observe Makoto's hand springing upwards.

"Haruka's a guy!"

The previously concealed laughter now erupted, resulting in Amakata apologizing and then subsequently introducing herself to Haruka, the name of the boy adjacent to Makoto. Makoto simultaneously apologized to Haruka for drawing the whole class' attention to them, something that Haruka did not seem fond of as he turned away from his friend.

* * *

Students scurried to meet up with their friends for lunch, some simply walking across the room, some traveling a few rooms down to visit their friends in other classes, some navigating to predetermined destinations outside for a picnic-style lunch. Mayumi didn't budge an inch though, anticipating her lonely lunches to resume from today until the end of her high school career. She watched as Makoto and Haruka conversed while Makoto fetched his neatly wrapped lunchbox, accepting that her premonition from earlier that day had come to fruition. Makoto rose from his seat, Mayumi presumed to relocate elsewhere for his lunch with Haruka, but was perplexed when she didn't hear the door behind her opening.

"Hey, Mayumi-chan, we're heading to the roof for lunch," Makoto explained. "Why don't you join us?"

"'Ma… Mayumi-chan?!'" the girl shrieked, not even answering the question at hand.

"See, she doesn't like '-chan' either," Haruka indicated.

"Sorry, I guess it is kinda weird to call you by your first name after we just met…" he conceded. "Then… how about 'Hayashida-chan?'"

The boy next to him spoke up before Mayumi was able to answer. "Oi, you didn't get rid of the '-chan' still."

"Ah, that's fine. It was just the combination of my first name and '-chan' that got me," she reassured the two, supplying the explanation mostly to placate Haruka. Even though she was not used to being called even that familiarly, she decided it best not to exacerbate the issue.

"Oh, you two didn't meet yesterday since Haru-chan was absent—"

"I told you to drop the '-chan' already…"

"Right. Sorry, Haru. This is Hayashida Mayumi. She just moved to Iwatobi for her parents' work." Haruka merely nodded his head towards her, not even feigning a weak smile. "Hayashida-chan, this is Nanase Haruka. We've been friends since we were very young."

"Nice to meet you, Nanase-san," she proposed, uncomfortable with saying as silent during an introduction as he was. She started pecking at her lunch in an attempt to coax them away from her.

"Ah, we can eat in the classroom if you'd prefer!" Makoto insisted.

Acknowledging that, similar to yesterday, Makoto would probably not leave without her unless she became preposterously boorish, she resolved herself to joining him for lunch until he tired of inviting her. It would not require too many days, she supposed, for the boy to discern that there was no benefit associated with her mere existence at lunch.

"No, the roof is fine. I was just getting a little hungry…"

The girl closed her lunchbox and lifted herself from her seat. Nearest to the door, the two boys waited for her to commence their trek.

"I… I don't really know how to get to the roof, so…" she managed out.

"Right!" Makoto spurred in front of her, opening the door. "Sorry about that."

She trailed behind him, reducing her pace so that Haruka could catch up to Makoto. "It's fine…"

As Haruka passed her, Mayumi caught a glimpse of his emotionless face, a stark contrast in comparison to Makoto's constantly beaming expression.

"_Maybe he has a thing for people who just want to be left alone… Wait, then why is Nanase-san following him without putting up a fight?"_ she pondered as they walked through the hallway. _"Tachibana-san said they were friends since they were very young… Has he been dragging Nanase-san around everywhere, against his will, for all these years?!"_

While rounding a corner in the stairwell, her quandaries screeched to a halt as she realized someone was shouting at her group from the landing below them.

"It's been forever!" He lowered his voice now that he had the two boys' attention. "I'll be joining you here at Iwatobi High School."

The two older boys turned to face each other. "Mako-chan?"

"Haru-chan?"

They scrutinized the young boy wearing a freshman's necktie in front of them, striving to recall how he could know their names. "…Ah!" Their exclamation was so emphatic that even Mayumi bounced backwards slightly in reaction. "Nagisa?!"

Said boy laughed, tilting his head while doing so. "Hey, who's that?" he questioned. "Ah, wait! I'll guess which one of you she's dating!"

Sensing the heat rising to her face, she stepped forward to correct him. "I-I'm not dating anyone!" she barked out, unwilling to accept the boy's behavior, even if he did have a child's face.

Makoto stepped between the two before the situation escalated. "This is Hayashida Mayumi. Her family just moved here for their work."

"Nice to meet you… hmm… Haya-chan!"

"'H-Haya-chan?!'"

Without any hesitation, he continued. "I'm Hazuki Nagisa!"

Makoto turned back to face the girl. "Sorry, but once he's decided on a nickname, there's usually nothing you can do…"

* * *

The four were lined up at the edge of the roof, their respective lunches settled atop the roof's parapet. The boys discussed their past – Mayumi had learned that all three were members of the same swimming club as children – as well as what they were doing currently. She was half-finished with her lunch when she noticed that the boys had hardly touched theirs due to how engrossed they were in their nostalgic exchange. Makoto and Nagisa forwarded occasional queries to her, but her responses were consistently neutral, concise, and provided little to no room for lengthy feedback. A majority of the lunch period continued in this fashion, Mayumi gradually regretting going to the roof with the boys. She was not good with people she did not know, she was not good with groups, and she was especially not good with groups of people that she did not know.

At last, they began dispersing near the end of the lunch period. Nagisa pranced down the steps while outstretching his arms. Haruka and Makoto remained at the top platform, listening to Nagisa's words. For the first time, Mayumi encountered a flash of emotion in Haruka's eyes as Nagisa disclosed that their former swim club – the very place where the three of them had met – was scheduled to be demolished.

Hopping off of the final step, he spun around to come eye-to-eye with the rest of the group. "So before that happens, why don't we pay a visit?"

Haruka proceeded down the steps, voicing his disapproval of the plan. Nagisa nagged repeatedly, struggling to change the outcome. Mayumi was thankful that no other students were nearby to witness their dispute, Haruka raising his voice with each subsequent denial.

Makoto, despite feigning ignorance, gave the most manipulative response, though. "But there's a pool there."

With those few words, Haruka's eyes glistened, seemingly defeated. Nagisa, having noticed this as well and accepting it as a victory, jumped with excitement.

"Haya-chan, you'll come with us too, right?!"

* * *

A/N: Wow, four followers and three favs already. Thanks guys~

I wanted this chapter be longer, but I'm still trying to decide whether or not Mayumi decides to go to the old swim club with them. Part of me feels like it's more natural that she wouldn't (a girl going to an abandoned building with three guys she just met? yeah right), but at the same time it would help her integrate with the group more. Let me know if you have any thoughts!


End file.
